Fifteen Years of the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program Foundation Research for Australia’S Tree Crop Revolution
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Fifteen Years of the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program Foundation research for Australia’s tree crop revolution Pub. No. 09/063 RIRDCInnovation for rural Australia © 2009 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 1 74151 865 2 ISSN 1440-6845 Fifteen Years of the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program — Foundation research for Australia’s tree crop revolution Publication No. 09/063 Project No. PRJ-004341 The information contained in this publication is intended for general use to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the development of sustainable regions. You must not rely on any information contained in this publication without taking specialist advice relevant to your particular circumstances. While reasonable care has been taken in preparing this publication to ensure that information is true and correct, the Commonwealth of Australia gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information in this publication. The Commonwealth of Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the authors or contributors expressly disclaim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any act or omission, or for any consequences of any such act or omission, made in reliance on the contents of this publication, whether or not caused by any negligence on the part of the Commonwealth of Australia, RIRDC, the authors or contributors. The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the views in this publication. This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. However, wide dissemination is encouraged. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the RIRDC Publications Manager on phone 02 6271 4165. Researcher Contact Details John Powell Optimal ICM Woodvale 301 Old Gap Road YASS NSW 2582 Phone: 02 6226 5298 Mobile: 0427 265 298 Email: [email protected] In submitting this report, the researchers have agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form. RIRDC Contact Details Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Level 2, 15 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600 PO Box 4776 KINGSTON ACT 2604 Phone: 02 6271 4100 Fax: 02 6271 4199 Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.rirdc.gov.au Bookshop: www.rirdc.gov.au 1300 634 313 Electronically published by RIRDC in June 2009 Print-on-demand by Union Offset Printing, Canberra at www.rirdc.gov.au or phone 1300 634 313 Fifteen Years of the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program Foundation research for Australia’s tree crop revolution by John Powell RIRDC Publication No 09/063 June 2009 About the Author John Powell (B App Sc, Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment) established his consulting business ‘Optimal ICM’ in March 2001. It is a national firm specialising in agricultural and natural resources research management, and extension and adoption of research results. Key clients are research funders and providers, public policy analysts and program managers, regional NRM organisations, and farming and grazing groups and networks. John has had a 27 year professional career in natural resources management that has included: developing and managing Australian Government and Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) landcare funding programs; establishing joint ventures in dryland farming systems R&D between MDBC and rural industry Research and Development Corporations; directing and managing the MDBC Dryland R&D program for seven years; and designing and drafting the 15-year MDBC Basin Salinity Management Strategy. John has been a commercial-scale wool and meat producer and farm forester in the Yass Valley near Canberra for 21 years. Acknowledgments Reviewing the large volume of JVAP-related material and synthesising it down to this report has been a challenging task. Support and assistance from the following people has been invaluable:- current JVAP Research Managers Bruce Munday and Lisa Robins; draft report reviewers Andrew Campbell and Glen Kile; members of the JVAP Technical Advisory Committee; LWA’s Manager Landscapes R&D Jim Donaldson; the founding JVAP Manager Roslyn Prinsley; RIRDC’s General Manager Research Margie Thomson; RIRDC’s Project Manager Helen Moffett; and RIRDC Publications staff Cecile Ferguson and Christine Joannides. Abbreviations ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics AFG Australian Forest Growers ALRTIG Australian Low Rainfall Tree Improvement Group CRC Salinity Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity FFI CRC Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre FWPA Forest & Wood Products Australia JVAP Joint Venture Agroforestry Program LWA Land & Water Australia MDB Murray-Darling Basin NLWRA National Land and Water Resources Audit PNF Private Native Forest RIRDC Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation ii Foreword The Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP) was established in 1993. The Program invested a total of about $29 million, while leveraging an equivalent amount from research providers and industry. R&D Plans were developed for each phase to guide its investments. Although JVAP adapted over the years to address new issues as they emerged, there were several common themes over its duration: • national leadership, funding support and coordination for Research, Development and Extension (R, D & E) to build confidence in agroforestry’s capacity to enhance agricultural sustainability while providing additional public benefits • an aspiration for agroforestry to be commercially viable, through either combined returns from public and private benefits, or from having sufficient scale to be profitable in its own right • consultation with the industrial plantation forestry sector, without seeking to be a principal funder of R, D & E for that sector The aim of this report is to increase public awareness of the role, value and potential of farm forestry and agroforestry and to highlight the importance of focussed national research and development. It highlights the broad scope of JVAP and its main achievements, and comments on how significant the knowledge being generated by JVAP was at the time. The report synthesises what is currently known, mostly from JVAP research, about four main agroforestry topics: Farm forestry for multiple benefits; Products and markets; Public policy, investment options, grower initiatives; and Socio-economic issues, training and extension. Importantly, this report interprets the relevance of the knowledge for today’s issues. In writing the report, more than 200 research reports, papers, articles and websites were reviewed. For the most part, these were accessed from the RIRDC website, and from the JVAP hard copy library in Canberra. This project was funded by the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP), which is supported by three R&D Corporations —Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Land & Water Australia (L&WA), and Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA). The R&D Corporations are funded principally by the Australian Government. This report is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of over 1800 research publications and it is part of our Agroforestry and Farm Forestry R&D Program that aims to integrate sustainable and productive agroforestry within Australian farming systems. The JVAP, under this program, is managed by RIRDC. Most of RIRDC’s reports are available for viewing and free downloads from www.rirdc.gov.au. Reports can also be purchased online from www.rirdc.gov.au or by phoning 1300 634 131. Peter O’Brien Managing Director Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation iii Contents About the Author ..................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... ii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................... ii Foreword .................................................................................................................................................iii Executive summary ................................................................................................................................vii Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 The ‘business case’ for JVAP ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Definitions and areas ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 A. Evolution of JVAP priorities ................................................................................................................. 3 A1. Origins ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 A2. Partners ...............................................................................................................................................................................